Wanted: Weapons of Fate aims to please comic AND film fans

GDC 2009: Ars talks to the director of Wanted: Weapons of Fate and learns that …

Last summer's Wanted film seemed to polarize audiences, particularly fans of Mark Millar's comic on which the movie was based. While the movie itself was critically well-received, it bore little resemblance to the graphic novel on which it was based: instead of the original story about a world ruled by supervillains, audiences were given a special effects-laden tale about a group considered to be the "assassins of fate."

The recently-released Wanted: Weapons of Fate, however, tells a story that takes place after the film itself, and footage of the game displays protagonist Wesley Gibson wearing the costume of The Killer, which is what he wore in the comic. So exactly which franchise does the game tie into—the comic or the movie? During GDC, I got to talk with Ulf Andersson, the game's director and co-founder of Grin Games, and he explained that Weapons of Fate is actually connected to both.

Of course, creating a game based on the movie wasn't something that really took any of us by surprise; the film's action sequences often felt like they were straight out of a video game anyway thanks to the visual style Timur Bekmambetov employed. Andersson pointed out that Bekmambetov's movie was one of the few action flicks that actually managed to do something different from what audiences were used to, much like The Matrix did ten years prior. "I'm not saying it's as good as the first Matrix," he confessed, "but it did a lot of stuff that nothing else could do."

That said, the game's development was not an afterthought to the movie's production. In fact, it turns out that the game was in development before the movie was shot, something that sounds promising when you consider the rushed nature of so many game tie-ins.

Andersson has no illusions about the uphill battle Weapons of Fate faces as a licensed title. "Movie titles and licensed games have been looked down on by a lot of people," he pointed out. However, while many of these games are actually pretty rotten, the public's awareness of this is due to the fact that these tie-ins are a part of the movies' publicity campaigns. "The amount of movie titles released that are bad compared to the normal games released are bad is pretty low... the difference is that the movie games have a marketing campaign around them."

That was part of the reason that Grin decided to go with a plot that didn't have players going through the movie's plot itself: while it is a part of the film's universe, the game's story allows gamers to experience something that's a blend of the comic and the movie. "Story-wise, it's heavily connected to the movie... but visually, it has some hook-ins to the comic," he explained, noting the costumes and heavy gore. "Tone-wise, it's a bit more to the comic because it's a bit more brutal and rough around the edges. Even in the menu, there are bits like that, with 'pussy mode'... If you're really into the whole Wanted franchise, it's a really cool extension to that story."

Finally, Andersson says that Grin is hoping to create downloadable content for the game, but, "I won't say 'yes' or 'no' on that. We're just waiting to see what people want now that we've released the game. We'll see how timing and everything works." When I asked a follow-up question about whether there was a sequel in the works, he confessed, "I like sequels, and I liked the game, so I'd like to make a sequel." Whether or not Wanted: Weapons of Fate is deserving of a full sequel remains to be seen, but Opposable Thumbs will feature a full review of the game later this week.

6 Reader Comments

I think he pretty much hit the nail on the head saying the plot of a game based on a movie does not have to follow the plot of the movie. I think most of the good movie based games that are actually good, create some kind of side story. Not having to release something at the same time as the movie helps too.

Unfortunately, this game is a total rental. You can easily blow through this one in a single sitting without breaking a sweat. Also, as there is no multiplayer element and the overall mechanics of the game get old quite fast, there is little to no replay value. Worst of all is how easy the game is on even the highest difficulty setting. You almost have to work at getting yourself killed. I think I only died three times in total when playing.